The 45 minute unit

One of the support services that my alma mater offered to struggling Ph.D. candidates was an afternoon with a writing consultant/time management specialist. Among a host of superb ideas there was one that stood out for its simplicity and its promise: the 45 minute unit. According to the people who research these things, 45 minutes is the most efficient block of time for tasks that require a significant amount of concentration (i.e. writing).

The experts argue that in a 45 minute block of work time you have ample chance to focus and to progress on a task, but you should pause after 45 minutes while your attention level is still on the rise instead of plateauing or on the decline. Planning to complete several 45 minute units with small (five minute) breaks in between allows the dissertator (or assistant professor) to get the greatest return on the two or three hours that can be carved out of every day for writing. The underlying philosophy of this strategy is that writing is something that happens when you sit down to do it, not when inspiration finds you.

I have been faithful to the 45 minute unit since I attended the workshop in 2000. The rules are pretty basic:
1. Determine how many units per day you plan to write (the time management consultant said 2-3 is average, 4 is difficult, and 5 almost impossible)
2. At the beginning of the unit, close all computer screens other than those directly related to what you are writing (even Facebook!)
3. Set timer for 45 minutes
4. Begin writing
5. Don't move from the computer until the timer goes off. Do not check e-mail, answer the phone, make tea, change the laundry, or get a snack.

Other important tips include stepping away from the computer during your breaks (checking e-mail does not constitute a break) and taking the last two minutes of each unit to write down the tasks you will work on during the next unit. This last step allows you to skip that time-consuming process of trying to remember what you were working on last.

I am downright evangelical about the 45 minute unit. I write down how many I will do each day in my Outlook calendar, I mark each completed unit on my wall calendar, and I am able to estimate with astounding accuracy how many units most major writing tasks will take. (I am revising a journal manuscript at present; I think I have about eight units to go. I did two today.)

In addition to facilitating schedule planning, the 45 minute unit also helps temper all sorts of writing neuroses. No matter how badly a session is going, or how blank a screen seems when you start, you only have to suffer through it for 45 minutes. And usually, after the timer ticks off four or five minutes, you are off to the races and have forgotten how difficult it was to sit down in the first place.

The 45 minute unit. Live it. Love it.